We live in the fast-paced information era. Contemporary students are relentlessly deluged by torrents of constant information and instant media. A touch of a button on a cell phone, tablet, or laptop computer gives students access to myriad ideas and answers to any questions they can generate. Regrettably, many of those ideas are poorly formed and the answers are likely to be incomplete, unsubstantiated, or inaccurate. Students must constantly decode, assimilate, analyze, and utilize incomprehensively large volumes of data. Without solid organizational skills and well-developed critical thinking skills, students are easily mislead and confused by information overload. Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, Google, and a constellation of websites deliver such a vast volume of dissonant and conflicted content that it leaves today’s student without the ability to effectively synthesize content and communicate that synthesis to peers and teachers in a competent, material, and relevant way. Consequently, successful adaptation to this new world requires acquisition of academic proficiency and psychosocial development at a substantially accelerated pace. The successful 21st century learner is asked to demonstrate collaborative style, skillful communication, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving. These skills are as important as the content we teach in our classroom. (1) We are all familiar with the “sage on the stage” modality of teaching. In a different era, a flash in the pan may have been enough to engage the imagination of students. That modality may still exist today, but it is unsuccessfully competing for the attention of students who are being distracted by the next text message, tweet, or slapstick YouTube videos. Immersing the learning environment in the latest gadgetry merely delivers more unfiltered and disorganized data. It does not advance student understanding of content organization, analysis, synthesis, and application to our discordant and rapidly changing world. Schools invest in technology as a way of increasing student performance…but data suggests that our test scores are going in the wrong direction. (2) The 21st century teacher needs to engage students in an ongoing dialog that fosters critical analysis of information resulting in relevant and real-world applications of knowledge. It is far more important for students to skillfully analyze and synthesize facts and theory than it is for them to offer mere recitations of them. Students must learn to seek and gain ever-growing levels of concept comprehension. This comprehension must be buttressed by practiced application of concepts and ideas to an engaging and authentic problem. An engaging task demands students effectively research and analyze texts, think creatively, and effectively communicate results with peers and teachers. Successful STEM curriculum will teach students to challenge their understanding of the world around them – for the rest of their lives. By use of the Engineering Design Process, students are trained in proven methods of problem solving. The acquired EDP skills transcends all disciplines and gives the student the ability to create a solution to any problem. By definition and practice, the EDP is collaborative and results in engaged students actively invested in the classroom. This is the cornerstone of developing collegially and socially positive behaviors in tomorrow’s technical professionals. The EDP curriculum will cause students to grow emotionally and academically and will give them 21st century life skills. BIBLIOGRAPHY